NEWS: A digest of aerospace, defense and technology news from the Gulf Coast I-10 region

Tuesday, July 25, 2017

Third RS-25 controller tested

STENNIS SPACE CENTER, Miss. – NASA successfully testing the third RS-25 flight controller, this one Unit 5, during a 500-second test Tuesday on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center. Four RS-25 engines providing 2 million pounds of thrust will power the first stage of NASA's deep-space Space Launch System. A pair of solid rocket boosters will produce an additional 6 million pounds of thrust. The test involved installing the controller unit, often characterized as the "brain," on an RS-25 development engine and firing it in the same manner, and for the same length of time, as needed during launch. The first integrated flight of SLS and the Orion spacecraft is known as Exploration Mission-1. NASA tested the first controller on the A-1 Test Stand at SSC in March. (Source: NASA/SSC, 07/25/17)